[Name]

[Instructor Name]

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Psychology

Introduction

The theories of classical and operant conditioning are used for shaping the behavior of animals. These theories also shape the behavior of human beings subconsciously. For this purpose, I will also use these theories to train my one year old puppy to perform tasks. In order to understand the training module, we will first explore the concepts of classical and operant conditioning.

Classical Conditioning

The theory of classical conditioning can be defined as an associative learning, which was first demonstrated by Ivan Pavlov. The theory is also known as Pavlov classical conditioning (Miltenberger 2001: 238).

Operant Conditioning

The theory explains the situation of ensuring a certain behavior and then rewarding that behavior. When this behavior has been rewarded enough times, the association will be established. It explains how we learn from the consequences of our behavior, and social learning explains how we learn by watching other people (Heyes et al. 2006: 24). For instance, the animal will tend to implement this behavior in order to obtain a reward.

Discussion

In order to train the puppy with the help of classical and operant conditioning, we need to understand that what factors must be in mind while training the dog (Wasserman et al. 602). With the reinforcement learning, we can make our dog learn about how to sit and listen to commands. The dog must be praised and encouraged as positive reinforcement and; therefore, censure as negative reinforcement, as well.

Using classical conditioning, I will allow my puppy to associate a signal (usually hearing) with something nice. Then, this signal will serve to tell it that something it has done is good. On the other hand, operant conditioning says that my puppy will conduct more actions when such actions are often pleasant consequences. Similarly, the behavior that is not adequate for the puppy will ...